Five Archaeological Discoveries that Verify the Biblical Timeline

This is an ancient Babylonian tablet dated back to 1750 BC. Do you know what it says? This is history’s first negative google review.
“For those of you who don't speak Old Babylonian, the gist of the message is that a dude named Nanni was promised "fine quality copper ingots" from a dealer named Ea-nasir. Unfortunately, the quality of the product wasn't up to his standards. He relays in hilariously dignified tones just how offended he is by the transaction and complains that the messengers he's sent through enemy territory to get his money back have all returned empty-handed. Yeah, working for Nanni was not fun.

The best part? The whole reason Ea-nasir stiffed Nanni was because Nanni owed him money in the first place. Nanni openly admits this in his complaint but argues that "one (trifling) mina of silver" shouldn't stop him from getting the star treatment. And they say this generation is entitled.”-Cracked article

It's quite fascinating what you can uncover in the Earth through the science of archaeology. Archaeology by it’s definition is “the study of human history and prehistory through the excavation of sites and the analysis of artifacts and other physical remains.”

I can’t tell you how many times someone has said to me, that they don’t believe in Greek myths, or the tooth fairy, or the Easter bunny so why should they believe in God? Well, like we talked about last week, recorded history matches with the Bible. And now today we consider the topic of archaeological discoveries. Do they prove or disprove the Bible?

We’re going to dig into a few examples from the historical record. First of all we consider the Tel Dan Inscription:

1.Tel Dan Inscription

“In 1993, excavators at Tel Da uncovered an inscription with the word BYTDWD on it. They convincingly argued that the word means “house of David” and dates to the ninth century BC. The inscription had been sealed by a later Assyrian destruction layer firmly dated to 733/722 BC. An ash layer is an archaeologist’s dream. Anything sealed beneath it must be dated earlier because there is no possibility of intrusion by later artifacts. Pottery directly beneath the destruction level dates to the ninth and eighth centuries BC, and from this period the so-called House of David inscription must have come. “ -John D. Currid (PhD, University of Chicago) is the Carl W. McMurray Professor of Old Testament at Reformed Theological Seminary.

For many years there was no evidence that King David from the Bible ever existed. Until 1993 when archaeologists discovered the Tel Dan inscription. It proved King David was real. Next there is the famous Gilgimesh inscription:

2. Epic of Gilgamesh

“In 1872, George Smith announced he had discovered an Assyrian account of a flood among tablets stored in the British Museum from excavations of mid-seventh-century-BC Nineveh. Called the Epic of Gilgamesh, the story comprises 12 tablets, with one tablet containing a tale of a great deluge.”

It’s absolutely fascinating how different cultures from around the world all have recorded histories of a “great flood” that occurred long ago, and swept away the world, aside from one man and his family. Modern scientists dismiss these accounts as “flood myths” because it doesn’t fit their ideology. But it’s amazing to see all the evidence for a biblical flood as recorded in Genesis.

3. The Siloam Pool: Where Jesus Healed the Blind Man

Next, we consider the famous pool of Siloam. “During construction work to repair a large water pipe south of Jerusalem’s Temple Mount, at the southern end of the ridge known as the City of David, archaeologists Ronny Reich and Eli Shukron identified two ancient stone steps. Further excavation revealed that they were part of a monumental pool from the Second Temple period, the period in which Jesus lived.”-biblicalarchaeology.org

The pool of Siloam, where Jesus famously healed the blind man, was discovered in fall 2004, accidentally by a sewage repair team. Once again, we see clear evidence that these places and events really took place. They are real historical truth.

4. Augustus Caesar

Sculptures and coins found of Augustus Caesar are shown here. If you recall in the gospels, it’s recorded that Augustus Caesar declared that a census would be taken. And that was one of the reasons that Jesus was born in Bethlehem, because his parents had to return to their home city to participate in the census indicated by this guy, Augustus Caesar.

Busts of Augustus Caesar have been found, several in fact, one in Meroe, Nubia shown here. This simply confirms another historical marker that indicates the bible is real history.

5. Pontius Pilate

And finally from the new York times, Pontius Pilate Seal Ring

“The name of Pontius Pilate, the Roman procurator who interrogated Jesus and then ordered him crucified, has turned up for the second time in the archaeological record. The first time his name and title were found engraved in a stone discovered in 1961 in secondary use at Caesarea Maritima. Just a few weeks ago, scientists announced that a seal ring excavated in the late 1960s at Herodium, a desert palace just outside of Bethlehem, also carried the inscription “of Pilates.”

If you recall when Pilate questioned Jesus, Jesus said to him all who obey the truth listen to me. And Pilate replied, “What is truth?” I imagine he said it in a sarcastic way, because it says next that he simply walked away. And sometimes we do the same thing. We look at the Bible and say, “oh who can really know? Where is the evidence?” Well, here is the evidence. And there is a ton of evidence. You could spend weeks, months, studying the archaeological evidence for the Bible, there's so much of it. But sometimes it’s not that we really want evidence. We just want an excuse to keep living our own selfish lives. Well I’m done with that. I’ve seen the evidence, and it’s powerful. God is real. The Bible is real. Jesus is real. And I need to give my life to God.

All this evidence, and guys this is just the tip of the ice berg, I found dozens of articles, just by a simple google search, there must be thousands and thousands of discoveries around Jerusalem and the middle east that prove that the bible is historically accurate. This is proved through archaeology.